Saxophone/Elkhorn stencil, distrubited by Getzen ,made in Italy

My son has borrowed an Alto sax from his father in law, its older and the finish looks to be unfinished metal. On the side of the bell, there's some engraving: ELK HORN DIS'T by GETZEN GETZEN, WIS and under the thumb rest is the numbers 26302. Is this a stencil? If so your guess?

AnswerHello Chuck, here is some interesting thing from the web..."The Elkhorn stencils were in fact a saxophone made in Italy, in QUARNA, the village over LAKE MAGGIORE / LAKE ORTA where the Rampone sax company started back in 1818 and still is based today. More in detail we are speaking of an ALFONSO RAMPONE, not Agostino RAMPONE & G. Battista CAZZANI. For sure an interesting vintage horn, not popular or very precious (economically) as some rare Rampone & Cazzani ones or CONNs or similars but a good horn for sure. I personally like these. Alfonso, a cousin of the Rampone owners first worked at R&C company and later started his company around 1932. He stopped then his business around 1974. I would date your horn around 1958... "
(no.:5494"Elkhorn, Dist'd by Getzen, Elkhorn, Wis.", Serial-No. 549X, Made in Italy
It looks nice and a little "vintage", strange red rollers though.
I wrote to Getzen directly and got the following reply:

"... We had a line of saxes back in the 1950's and early 60's. They were the ELKHORN brand. Due to a factory fire in 1963, I don't have much information on these. There are still some around and they are considered more of a standard model sax today. No replacement parts for them.
Then in mid 1980's we carried a line of saxes made in Italy and distributed by Getzen. This was a time period when the company was owned by Charles F. Andrews. We no longer have any details on these instruments. )here is the history of Rampone,In the early 1800’s Egidio Forni and his uncle Francesco Bonaventura RAMPONE, from Quarna Sotto, moved to Milan where they learned the craft of wood turning of musical instruments. (Flutes, Clarinets, Recorders etc...). After a few years they became partners with their employer. Then in 1847, the original owner, either because of advancing age or declining health, ceded his ownership in the company to Forni and Rampone.
In the following years, the company passed into the hands of the Rampone family, first to Teodoro, and then to his son Agostino Rampone, the true artistic and business mind behind the company and its fine reputation.
Agostino was a talented flautist in the SCALA di MILANO ORCHESTRA, a technician and an innovator. Historical accounts from the beginning of the 20th century credit him with perfecting the Boehm system on the flute. Numerous awards from Milan, Vienna, Paris, Rio de Janeiro, Harvard, New York etc. are testaments to the fame which the firm enjoyed in Europe and around the world.
It is suspected that during these exhibitions Agostino met Adolph Sax. In vintage catalogs and price lists of “Agostino Rampone” the year 1818 appeared as the year of the formation of the company.
Around the middle of the 19th century, Forni and Rampone moved a portion of the production to their birthplace, Quarna Sotto, where they placed small woodworking equipment in friends’ and relatives’ homes situated close to small streams which were used to drive the machinery. Initially simple lathes, manual saws and treadle drills were used to work natural woods found in the area: pear, cornellian cherry, laburnum and boxwood.
It is likely that the first Italian saxophones, after the invention of the instrument in 1848 by the Belgian Adolphe Sax (1814-1894), were made in Quarna by Agostino Rampone around 1875 with the first prototypes having a body in wood. Some of these prototypes, used for the development of the keywork, are exhibited in the Quarna Museum of Musical Instruments, the only museum in Italy able to correctly document the evolution of wind instruments over the last two centuries.
After 1910, it was the marriage of Egidio Rampone to Giuseppina Cazzani, daughter of Giovanbattista Cazzani, a Milanese watch maker who also made and repaired brass musical instruments, which gave birth to the firm “Rampone & Cazzani”, known by the brand name “Ditte Riunite A.Rampone & G.B.Cazzani”.
Under this name the company reached its heyday. In the first half of the 20th century, the company began a slow decline and, in 1957, close to bankruptcy, was acquired by Fernando Saltamerenda. He maintained much of the production in Quarna Sotto but moved the offices and the warehouse to Gerenzano, Varese.
Your sax was mid to late 1950's
Nice saxophone, please get it all fixed up and play it...
thanks Grant

Expertise

I'm a Professional Jazz Saxophone soloist recently retired from 23 years with the USAF Band Of Flight, WPAFB, OHIO, experienced in performance, technique and equipment. I'm not a buyer/seller or dealer. I have 40 years Alto, Tenor, Soprano and Bari Saxophone performance experience with additional years on the Flute, Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, Bass Guitar, Piano, Drum-set, Guitar and Voice. I'm a third generation professional military musician, my father, Bill Koeller(1939-1997) was in the USAF 1958-1962, and played Jazz Hammond B-3 organ from 1957-1997, and my fathers Uncle, Alfred Koeller (1912-1993), was a professional Acoustic Bassist in the Army Air Corps in WWII, and also performed on Jazz Guitar, Hammond organ, Piano and tenor saxophone.

Experience

Professional Saxophone Soloist, 23 total years with the USAF Bands, 6 years with the USAF Band of Flight, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, performing on Tenor, Alto, Soprano, Clarinet, and Flute. 4 years in Japan, at Yokota AFB with the USAF Band of the Pacific. An Avid Composer and Arranger for the Night Hawk Protocol Combo. Former Lead Alto Saxophonist with the USAF Night Flight Big Band performing the music of Glenn Miller as well as other hits of the Big Band Era. I collect LP records of Jazz, blue's, classical and rock, and have over 12,000 records.